CARLINVILLE, Ill. - Webster University put the brakes on its two-match losing skid here Tuesday evening as the Gorloks posted a three-set victory over Blackburn College (25-20, 25-23, 25-8) in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action at Dawes Gymnasium on the Blackburn campus. 

With the win, Webster improves to 8-9 overall and 5-3 in the SLIAC, while Blackburn falls to 3-13 overall and 3-6 in the league. 

In the win against the Beavers, Webster hit a season high .262 and recorded 39 kills and had 10 service aces, including a career-high tying five aces by senior setter Jenna Rodriguez (Smithton, Ill./Freeburg). The 10 service aces were tied for second most this season in a match as the Gorloks also had 10 aces in a four-set win at St. Louis Pharmacy. 

Three Gorloks hit over .400 in Tuesday's match as junior middle hitter Jordan Price (Fulton, Ill./Carl Sandburg College) hit a season high .458 as she recorded 11 kills, had five digs and two blocks, including a solo block. In addition to Price, senior right side hitter Sarah Jacobs (Carbondale, Ill./Murphysboro) hit a season high .450 and had nine kills, while freshman outside hitter Lauren Borik (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) hit .429 and had 10 kills to extend her double-digit kill streak to seven consecutive matches. 

Defensively, Webster had 56 digs, including a match-high 16 digs by junior libero Kristen Farrah (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), while Rodriguez added nine digs and junior outside hitter Samantha Kruse (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) had eight digs and chipped in with three aces. 

In the opening set, WU jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led 10-5 when Blackburn scored two of the next three points to pull within 11-7. The Gorloks, though, would use a 9-5 run to push out to a 20-12 lead. The run was capped by kills from Borik, Jacobs and sophomore middle hitter Kylie Burke (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West). Blackburn would respond by scoring eight of the next 12 points to pull within 24-20, before Price sealed WU's 25-20 set win with her sixth and final kill of the set. In the set, Webster hit .389 and had 17 kills and three aces, while Blackburn hit .353 and had 15 kills. 

Webster got off to a strong start in the second set as they scored the first four points and led 7-2 when the Beavers used a 5-1 run to pull within 8-7. The Gorloks, though, would respond with an 11-4 run capped by a kill from Borik to push its lead to 19-11. BC would answer with a 12-2 run to take a 23-21 lead. The Beavers run was keyed by four kills from Kaitlyn Wiegand. WU came right back and scored the final four points of the set, including capping the 25-23 set win with a kill by Kruse to take a 2-0 lead in the match. In the set, WU hit .140 and had 12 kills, while BC had 15 kills and hit .213. Both teams had 23 digs in the set. 

The third and final set belonged to the Gorloks as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead and never looked back as they eventually led 15-1 in the set. After Blackburn used a kill from Lucy Magnussen to stop WU's run, the Gorloks would score 10 of the final 16 points to seal its 25-8 set win and earn its fourth three-set win this season. In the set, WU hit .286 and had 10 kills, while Blackburn was held to a -.121 hitting percentage and had four kills. Four of WU's 10 aces came in the third set. 

Wiegand led Blackburn with 10 kills and hit .261, while Magnussen and Kasey Bean each had eight kills in the loss. On defense, Amanda Swedberg had a team high 13 digs and Karlee Herman added 10 digs. 

The Gorloks will return to action this coming Friday, Oct. 11 as they host both Spalding and MacMurray in a SLIAC doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively at Grant Gymnasium on the Webster campus. The Gorloks picked up a four set win at Spalding on Sept. 21 and suffered a hard-fought five set loss at MacMurray on Sept. 28.